Vehicle-axle



(No Model.)

J. H. PLAGLER.

VEHICLE AXLE.

Patented Jan. 6, 1891.

. I 'V///////////////////////////A (knew 2W Witnesses 2 Inventor V] We $931 Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. FLAGLER, OF NElV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL TUBE IVORKS COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

VEHICLE-AXLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,065, dated January 6, 1891.

Application filed December 24, 1888. Serial No. 294,454. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, JOHN H. FLAGLER, of New York city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Axles, of which the following is a specification. 4

This invention pertains to improvements in tubular vehicle-axles. Tubular vehicle axles are at once light and strong, and by reason of their tubular construction they possess a certain degree of elasticity, permitting alimited degree of yielding without involving strains liable to lead to breaking. There the bar is subjected to deflective strains and the elastic yielding of that bar is depended upon to a certain extent to prevent the imposition of short disintegrating bends, it is highly important that the waves of fiexure should be free to traverse throughout the length of the portion of the bar subjected to the strain. The principle may be best illus trated in the railroad-track in which a wave of flexure is produced by the movement of the traveling load, the elasticity of the track permitting the flexure. The problem in con structing the joints of the rails is not to secure extraordinary stiffness, but to secure the proper strength withoutinterfering with that degree of flexibility normal to the body of the rail. Extra stiffness at the joints results in damage by breaking at the joints, While a weaker joint would permit the forward movement of the flexu re wave without destructive eifects.

In tubular axles it is highly important to employ transverse partitions within the axle to partition off the cavities of the end portions of the axles from the central cavity in the body of the axle, the end cavities being employed for the holding of lubricants. The partitions employed have generally consisted of rigid unyielding blocks or cups inserted within the axle. These cups or blocks have resulted in giving the axles an extraordinary stiffness at the partition-points, and experience has developed the fact that these extra strong points in the axle are the points at which breaks are quite liable to occur.

My invention has to do with the provision of an axle with elastic partitions avoiding the extraordinary stiffening of the axle at the partition-points.

My improvements will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tubular axle illustrating my improvements, the righthand portion of the axle appearing in this view in vertical longitudinal section; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section, upon an enlarged scale, of a portion of the axle with its elastic partitions; Fig. 3, a vertical transverse section of the same, exhibiting the clastic partition in elevation; and Fig. 4, a face view of the elastic partition before being given its final shape.

In the drawings, A indicates the tubular body of the axle; B, the tubular spindle portions thereof, provided at their outer ends with nipples for the reception of the Wheelkeepers; O, the usual collars at the juncture of'the body portion with the spindle portions, these collars forming the inner end bearing or thrust-bearings for the wheel-hubs, and serving, also,in general construction, as means for attaching the axle to the appropriate parts of the vehicle; D, elastic partitions inserted Within the tubular axle near the collars and serving to divide the cavity of the axle into three partsnamely, the central body cavity and the two spindle-cavities-these partitions being in the form of a cup whose periphery fits and fills the bore of the axle; and E, longitudinal slits in the periphery of the cuplike partition.

The partitions are to be made of non-rigid material, preferably of wrought-iron or steel sheet metal. In practice I make them by punching out a piece of metal of the general form illustrated in Fig. 4. From the blank thus formed Istrike up the cup of such diametrical dimension that it will fit snugly in the bore of the axle without the slits E becoming entirely closed. The cups thus possess a diametrical elasticity, and do not to any material degree interfere With the clasticity of the axle at their points of insertion.

If the axles have their outer ends reduced in diameter, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and as is the general practice, it is obviouslynecessm'y transverse partitions formed with peripheral that thepartitions be inserted in place before slits. the en 1 reductions are erformed. JOHN IL FLAGLERW I elzmn as my 1nvent10n- 5 In an axle, the combination, substantially Witnesses:

as set forth, of the tubular body and end por- ALFRED J ARETZKI, tions of the axle and the elastic cup-shaped l I;[. ll. TYNDALE. 

